Children of Maryland Mental Health Advocates Together

Monday, April 2, 2012

The state of Maryland is preparing to make major reforms to the public mental health system. Currently, mental health services and substance abuse treatment are delivered through two separate administrations, under different regulations, and using different funding sources. Now, Maryland seeks to integrate these two systems into a single behavioral health system.

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is soliciting feedback on models for merging these two systems. Information about the process and a schedule of public meetings is located here. Access a glossary of terms commonly used in health care financing here.

The next public meeting will take place on May 1, location to be announced. The decisions made at this meeting and subsequent ones will influence the delivery of mental health care in Maryland for years to come. We urge providers, caregivers, and all advocates to learn about behavioral health integration in Maryland and weigh in so we can ensure the new system supports the highest quality of mental health care for children and adolescents in the state.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Dr. Erica Sibinga, assistant professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins, will discuss the use of mindfulness interventions in primary care. Dr. Jane Foy, professor of pediatrics at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, will describe the experience of fostering collaborations between primary care providers and mental health practitioners in North Carolina.

The summit is sponsored by the Maryland Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Maryland Chapter of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Parents' Place of Maryland, and Children of Maryland Mental Health Advocates Together (COMMHAT). Primary care and mental health providers are invited to attend the presentations, network with colleagues, and strategize about the child and adolescent mental health needs specific to their regions.

Registration is free. Please email Kate Franklin of the Maryland Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics if you would like to attend. No CMEs will be provided.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Maryland chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians is hosting a two-part conference for pediatric clinicians interested in learning brief techniques for child mental health concerns.

Registration is free, and you don't have to be an AAP member to attend. The first meeting will be held Saturday, May 7 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Presentation topics will include discipline and effective parenting, behavior modification, sleep problems and more.

Part two will take place Saturday, June 4 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. This meeting will cover screening tools for mental health and behavior problems, brief interventions for ADHD, depression and anxiety, billing, coding and the mental health referral process, among other topics.

Both meetings will be held at the Western Maryland Hospital Center Auditorium in Hagerstown, M.D. Continuing education credits are available. Click here for more details and a conference registration form.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

COMMHAT has received a "mini-grant" from the Maryland Consortium for Children with Special Health Care Needs to develop training for primary care providers and others who provide front-line child mental health services in western Maryland. Led by the Maryland AAP's Committee on Emotional Health, the training will take place in two weekend sessions in the spring 2011. The training also provides an opportunity to test potential "common elements" modules. These modules may be combined with other interventions in training programs to support primary care providers' efforts to identify and treat child mental health problems.

With funding from a small grant from American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, COMMHAT has been working with Tri-State Community Health Center in Hancock, Maryland, to support pediatric mental health care through better links to community agencies and via teleconferencing. Community links were built by establishing a referral mechanism from Tri-State to the western Maryland office of The Parents' Place of Maryland, a peer support, education and advocacy organization for parents of children with disabilities. Psychologists at the University of Maryland, College Park and child psychiatrists at the University of Maryland, Baltimore provide the teleconferencing for child mental health consultation to Tri-State pediatricians.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Friday, May 22, 2009

The Maryland Children's Mental Health Collaborative (our new name!) is co-sponsoring the joint dinner meeting of Maryland's Regional Council of AACAP (Child Psychiatry) and the Maryland Chapter of the Academy of Pediatrics. The meeting is open to members of either group or trainees in child psychiatry or pediatrics. It will feature a brief update from the collaborative and then a panel discussion on prevention and management of antipsychotic-induced weight gain. Discussants include Drs. Gloria Reeves, Mark Riddle, and Soren Snitker. Date: 6/17/09; time: 6:00 PM; Location: Radisson Hotel at Cross Keys, Baltimore. For information contact Laurie Tochterman (Maryland AACAP): 410-215-0618 or laurietoch@yahoo.com.

June 2008 MMHI Advocacy Conference

On June 7 2008, pediatricians, child psychiatrists, family members and advocates came together to discuss ways to improve accessibility to quality mental health care in the State of Maryland. See the report here.

Maryland Mental Health Initiative

The Maryland Mental Health Initiative is a group of pediatricians, child psychiatrists and advocates working together to improve communication and collaboration between pediatricians and child psychiatrists in order to provide high quality mental health care for children and adolescents.